Month: July 2019

Very nice day yesterday, sunny and hot but with a cool ocean breeze. Did I mention that this rental house doesn’t really have any AC? In the bathroom, for example, it is very hot. This is the longest I’ve been in a non-airconditioned space, while it was hot, in a long time. No sir, I don’t like it.

Even the Daily Mail thinks the Dems ate their own last night. I didn’t see it. I was busy in meatspace.

Gilroy murderer is already falling out of the news cycle.

Hoping to sleep in today, but the little window ac can’t keep the room cool tonight. Joy.

Maybe I’ll get some seafood tonight, after all, this is the place for it.

If the oceans don’t boil in this latest heatwave that is….

n

Weather yesterday was hotter and more humid, with lots of sun. Weather today? I guess we’ll see….

Had a nice fish dinner yesterday. New England knows fish, you gotta give them that. They don’t seem to know anything about air conditioning though.

This rental house isn’t cheap. It’s had a long series of remodels and expansions, and a fairly recent complete luxury kitchen and general makeover. NO AC. It was advertised with AC. One tiny window unit upstairs and one tiny window unit on the first floor don’t actually cut it. Both are also obviously brand new. Like they put them in yesterday.

The kitchen has Sub Zero fridge, granite for miles, and an 8 burner Thermidor stove. No AC. HOT AS HELL in this house and damp like a fat man’s belly wrinkles. I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to put a freaking mini split AC unit in a million dollar house. No window coverings either. Missing outlet and switch plate covers. Peeling paint in one bedroom. And the Sub Zero fridge is currently 67F. It’s “finicky” according to the two pages of instructions taped to it, and often fails if left empty. So some jackass has put a gallon jug of red liquid labeled “antifreeze, do not drink” in the fridge. Who thinks putting a gallon of red poison in the fridge, in a juice container, is a good idea?

MIL arranged the rental and is ranting… booking agent is in Oregon, local management is unavailable. I’m going to put a gallon of poison somewhere else than the freaking fridge this morning and then I’m going to sit back and watch the show.

Vacations, who needs ’em.

n

After several days of great weather, the pessimist in me is set for the rain to start. Both the FEMA and openweathermap people had long range predictions that we’d be seeing rain in this area soon. I guess we’ll see.

Plan for today is to visit a memorial park on the way to the Cape and check in there late afternoon. I guess we’ll see.

I got out the little laptop and had a chance to catch up on some news reading. Karl over at market-ticker.org has been killing it. If you don’t read him normally, read through the last few (3) pages.

I’m currently up and waiting for clothes to dry in the high end Maytag washer here. I’ve just been told that I have to sort my drying into “light and heavy” or it will run forever and never dry. Sweet jebus. It was on the ECO setting which automatically shuts off when the clothes are still damp, helpfully saving you that bit of Gaia destroying heat that would actually, you know, DRY your clothes. And that someone broke a favorite wine glass by NOT putting it in the ONE place at the ONE angle where it could survive in the new dishwasher. And that the new fridge has to have a door closed in a particular way or bad things will happen. This woman is the hostage of her appliances. It concerns me a lot that she lives this way. Every day and every task is a battle for her.

It’s probably gonna drive me nuts, but I guess we’ll see…………….

n

Saturday had beautiful weather and we are hoping for the same today.

Had a nice visit with a bunch of friendly people I barely know. Lots of food and drinks were consumed. Kids had fun chasing their cousins around. Even the mosquitoes gave us a break.

The roads around here sure are winding and narrow. I’m glad i got the offline maps installed. I have no chance of navigating without help.

Had a long dicussion with a young lady about her $200,000 of student loan debt, and her job prospects with a peace and justice degree ( not good, btw, if you had any doubt). She’s very aggrieved that her college degree isn’t getting her hired. I don’t think she’ll enjoy her move from NYFC to San Antonio.

I guess anything is possible, Some things aren’t particularly likely though.

N

Beautiful day yesterday. Spent a couple of nice hours at the local “pond” which would be called a spring fed lake anywhere else. $5 to park and pay the lifeguards. Just a couple other local families with young kids. Water was clear and comfortable.

Then dinner in Rhode island and home…

Weird how close together everything is here.

Family party this afternoon. The local news said cape cod was open for business after the National Guard got called in to help with cleanup. So we’re still on track to head out there in a day or so. Nothing like vacationing in a disaster area….

Now to post this and get to bed.

N

Supposed to be a nice day. Funny how temps here feel hot that would be cool at home.

We are hoping for some sort of living museum today, but it will depend on traffic.

Still havent heard from our rental on the Cape if it’s in shape for us come Monday… I guess we’ll see.

In the mean time, talk amongst yourselves…
N

67F and 68%RH??? Crazy talk. It stayed slightly cooler yesterday with lower humidity than normal. Today looks like it might be similar, so OF COURSE I’m headed to the site of a recent tornado…

On a more serious note, supporting the idea that the world is going through one of its periodic geopolitical realignments, there certainly is a lot of change going on…

Turkey, Russia, Brexit, China, Venezuela collapsing, the whole post WWII world order seems to be shifting. This can be a time of tremendous opportunity, but it is also fraught with risk. Wounded animals are most dangerous and so are wounded empires.

Every thing points to a ‘conservative’ strategy, while staying alert for the big move that might be necessary or prudent.

Be prepared to take care of yourself, since mice get flattened when the elephants dance.

——-

I’ll be getting packed and then traveling most of the day. I should be able to keep a normal schedule for the next 8 days, but might be a bit late opening the door here if I have connectivity problems or family commitments. If it gets to be 8 or 9 EDT and I haven’t unlocked the door and flipped over the Open sign, someone jump in…

If everything goes to heII I’ll be in the worst possible place, and my options are going to be very limited. Depending on the threat, I’ll be headed for Texas, Michigan, or trying to find security locally. Possibly Canandaigua NY if that seems like a good direction. Hopefully it will just be a nice visit with family, like 99.9% of the time. You never know though do you?

nick

71F and 80%RH this morning. I know! I had to confirm it with a weather site… Don’t know what’s in store for us today but at least it’s different.

Tomorrow the family packs up and flies to the east coast for our biannual visit with family out there… We’re mostly going to be on Cape Cod, although we will be spending a couple of days with family around Boston.

As usual, I’m not looking forward to the travel, or being away from home. There is absolutely no way to be adequately prepared during this trip. We are at the mercy of the airlines, relatives (who think I’m a paranoid fool), and unfamiliar places and people.

To add insult to injury, I’ll be there too early for the Pageant of Steam AGAIN! (and not really close either)

Meanwhile, the world continues to slide toward the future.

n

89F and 79%RH at 9am… so basically Nick’s rule of 10s. Should be 100 in another hour.

NYC lost power to some areas during a period of peak demand and people are screaming about it. Despite being warned it could happen. Despite it being normal for the system to be overtaxed on a hot summer day.

Preps people.

These same idiots are going to be calling for YOUR stuff and YOUR resources when something bad happens. Time to start tightening up your OPSEC and probably your physical security too.

And prep like your life depends on it, because it might.

n